I adopted my dearest St. Bernardo Pumpkin from GGR...and what a stange experience it was indeed. It had an underlying Hunter-S.-Thompson-Fear-and Loathing-in-LV quality, very surreal.
We arrived at the time she indicated and were made to wait an additional hour until they opened the gates for us, with an edgy, messy-haired lady (who I later found out to be Tracy) darting out occasionally to tell us that we were NOT to get out of our cars. Let me add that this was with our 9 month old son and slightly over-the-top basset hound. In addition, the old mercury was hitting somewhere around 95 degrees that day. I began to wonder how someone who had such a love for dogs would condone us sitting in our cars with our poor panting dogs. We broke the rules and let the dog get out of the car finally...
What were some of the stranger occurences of our 9-10 hour ordeal? (And please allow me to remind you that I was trying to nurse my poor little boy through this madness) Definitely waiting about 30 minutes in between showings of the dogs, covered in flies, sitting in dirty plastic chairs and fighting the need to go "peepee" because did you see the state of the bathroom, ick!! Which, btw, how the heck does that compute to see one dog at a time when there are supposedly 50 available dogs? Maybe it's just me, but the logic doesn't quite register with me. And why did Tracy come back after one particularly long absence with her shirt turned inside out and backwards? That one really had my hubbie looking at me sideways like, Where have you brought me too??? Oh, and if she told me one more time that she breastfed her daughter until she was 4 and did it in (and I quote) "high-powered, corporate boardrooms", I was going to scream.
NEways, after taking home one dog and then returning him two weeks later because we were so desperate after 8 hours of waiting (and there were still adopters waiting when we finally left, those poor people staring at us with resentment because we were allowed to escape the fences) that we just kind of thought he might be the one, I did manage to find the love of my life, Ms. Pumpkin Pie.
Now, yes, she was very sick and underweight when I got her, but I'm sure that with that many dogs passing through their property they must have a heck of a time keeping them healthy. She was a little expensive for a rescue, at $850. Apparently that was because she was transported from N CA. And, yes, the vet info and age were a little hazy...but oh well.
To their credit, I do think they are doing a valuable service and I know they must love the dogs...but that is one crazy show! My advice to anyone considering the experience? Try, try, try to make it up there on a weekday. It will probably save you a lot of hassle and make selecting your new partner in life that much more enjoyable.
